Court set to hear challenge to Wisconsin right-to-work law

A Dane County judge will hear arguments this morning in a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s recently passed right-to-work law.

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO and two local union groups claim the law is unconstitutional and that enforcing it would cause them irreparable harm. They are asking a judge to block its implementation, just weeks after Governor Scott Walker signed the measure.

The law prevents employers from requiring union membership or paying dues as a condition of employment.

In a brief filed earlier this week, the state Department of Justice argued that the law does not take any property from unions, while also noting that similar legal challenges in other states have failed to overturn right-to-work laws.

A judge could rule on issuing a temporary injunction to block the law later today.